TOPICS

MORE

Georgia House OKs needle exchange bill to fight HIV

By Patrick Saunders | Feb 26, 2019 | 3:02 PM

A bill creating a needle exchange program to help reduce HIV rates in Georgia passed comfortably in the House on Monday.

Rep. Houston Gaines, a Republican from Athens who sponsored the legislation, said House Bill 217 would create a syringe services program to allow people who inject drugs to exchange used needles for clean ones. Programs like these reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

“Contaminated syringes and needles affect more than just drug users or the drug dependent,” Gaines said Monday as he introduced the bill on the House floor. “This issue has implications for every community across our state. It is a bipartisan issue where we can all agree.”

It’s a pandemic. Protests over police brutality are filling the streets. Calls for justice and equality are growing louder. In the middle of the chaos, it’s also primary day in Georgia on June 9. READ MORE »

Sarah Riggs Amico – one of the Democrats hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. David Perdue – kicked off Pride month with a call for racial equality and a public conversation with transgender advocates. READ MORE »